Jumping off a mountain in the sunshine!

The sun is shining this morning and everything looks even greener and more beautiful than before. I am excited, a little nervous, but more excited. I had mentioned to Jim once, while we were watching The Amazing Race – that I would love to paraglide. He filed that away – like loving husbands do, and when we were planning this trip gifted me a paragliding experience in the Alps. He had no desire to paraglide – he would choose other experiences that were important to him. I was thrilled. Last night I had a few butterflies – I’m not the image of most paragliders. – I’m 40 plus years older than almost all I saw today, my running skills were never great and are almost non – existent with age and I’m one piece of biscotti away from the weight limit. All that combined made me wonder if this was a wise choice. But we ventured off this morning.

We met our “pilots” in Lucerne with three other gliders – great kids in their 20’s from Wisconsin and off we went for about 40 minutes to a cable car station where we all rode to the top to await our experience. The pilots were great……very calming ….Jake, the young engineer from Wisconsin was not real comfortable with heights and he was having some cold sweats all the way up in the cable car – I wasn’t sure how he’d make the jump – but he did great.

Once we got to the top, we had a look around and took some pics. The pilots checked the wind directions etc and got the sails ready. My shoes were slip on Sketchers and Toni assured me I would lose them in the flight so he strapped me in some big running shoes that would survive the journey. We were strapped into harnesses, helmeted and then taught how to walk 3 and then run to the edge of the cliff and then keep our legs running for a bit to make sure we were off.

I honestly was not worrying about the half hour flight – I was more worried about the running and getting in the air and then maybe a tad about the landing. All worrying not needed – we took off easily – and Toni actually said “you ran way better than I thought you could” – I’m not sure what kind of compliment that was but I’ll take it. The flight was wonderful and scenic and silent and relaxing. The others said they were cold – I didn’t feel a thing. We swooped and rode down the mountain and then way over the lake and back. He let me steer for awhile although I was more content just to sit back and enjoy. The landing was soft and with a couple steps – we were down. What a great experience! Thank you thoughtful Jim!! It was a perfect gift.

We walked Lucerne a bit in the sunshine. Stopped for a (believe it or not) Big Mac! and meandered back to Wolhusen for an early afternoon break

I will remember Lucerne for my great para-gliding gift, for some of the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted, for breathtaking scenery around every corner, for fields of wild crocuses, daffodils and other wildflowers and for our delicious cheese fondue. It’s way more about nature and beauty here but still, the architecture is beautiful, different and awesome. The weather wasn’t wonderful and even today with sun it was chilly, but so worth bundling up for!!